Big thanks to Keith for putting this together!
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OK, here we go, storing our cars for the winter.

This will be my 28th year of putting a 510 into storage. The years have seen them under tarps, hidden in strange garages, stored in a race shop, and for the last few years, where I work. The scariest one was one year I had it in a friends garage that was oil heated. The old oil stove had an actual carburetor that fed fuel to the burner. We would light the stove and in a few hours the garage would be a toasty 70 F. One very cold day we lit the stove and began to work on the cars. After and hour the stove started to make a funny rushing sound. By the time we got out from under the car, it was sounding like a rocket about to blast off! The stove pipe was starting to glow red at the base. For whatever reason the carb had jammed open and the stove was being fed an unrestricted amount of fuel. ARG>>RUNAWAY STOVE. The heat was tremendous. Guess where the shut-off was? Out side at the back. The side of Paul's TR-6 felt like it was going to blister the paint. We ran out back...and...the shut off was frozen in place. Back inside to grab a pair of vise-grips. By now the side of Paul's car is blistering. The WHOLE stove pipe is red hot. Back outside and reef on the valve. Snap..the top of the valve comes off!!! Trouble now! Back inside and grab BIG hammer. Back outside to tank, line up connection at tank, one mighty swing and we knock the line right out of the tank. Now the oil is flowing onto ground. No problem. Drive a stick into tank, oil slows to a trickle. The stove ran out of fuel about a minute later. The pipe was so hot the roof was starting to smoulder. Paul's TR-6 had a HUGE burn spot on the fender. Lucky we did not go for lunch that day while the stove was warming up the place! Becareful WHERE you store your car.

This is what I usually do, adapt modify, etc. as you see fit.

Wash car and wax..especially if it is going to be outside. Let the car breath if it is going to be outside. It is the change in temp. and humidity that will kill/rust things.

The ENGINE, the MOST important part.

Make sure your oil is fairly fresh. If it is really black, it has done it's job of getting all those products of combustion in suspension. Why leave that mess to sit in your motor all winter. It is better to throw some cheap 10/30 in before you shut the motor off that last time. Oils cheap, your motors not!

I purchase a product made by CRC called "Engine Stor" at Lordco, part #75-027, about $5 can. Fire the motor, from cold, (fast idle)and spray the product down carb till the motor starts to die, but no longer than 10 secs. or so. Shut motor off. Remove plugs and spray into cylinders. Crank motor to spread oil film. Spray ends of spark plugs to keep them from rusting. I have a sacrificial set I use to just plug the motor. Tape up exhaust pipe. Moisture does come in that way too! Tape up carb opening. Make sure your anti-freeze is fairly fresh also, for it's anti-corrosion properties. If you do not want to do this, start motor and run to temperature...once a month. Make sure it is nice and warm, other wise the condensation in the motor will not get a chance to vaporize. ( again..clean fresh oil)

BLEED YOUR BRAKES! As brake fluid absorbs moisture, it will prolong your cylinders, if they sit with fresh fluid in them. Goes for clutch also.

I put my car on jackstands for the winter. Keeps tire from flatspotting and....this is when you should crawl around under the car looking for leaks, nut and bolt check, anything amiss. If you do it NOW...it is already for that first nice day in the spring. Grease any ball joints etc. If you have rod ends, I spray mine with TRI-FLOW! It is a great teflon based lube. I use it on my mountain bike also. It resists water just awesome. Use silicone on any sway bar mounts that still may be rubber. Check your drive shaft universals and gease them if they have nipples. Because I store my car in a relatively stable temperature area, I leave minimal gas in my car. I would say if you are leaving it outside, fill it up. Better to run through a tank of tired gas than deal with corrosion inside our old tanks. If you have to store your car outside, even more reason to bleed the brakes. Those wheel cylinders have a tough life just sitting out. This is even more of a problem if you have racing calipers, as they do not have a dust seal. Better to remove brake pads and CAREFULLY put some brake fluid around the piston. I guarantee this will prolong the life of race calipers stored outside.

I usually check the connections at the fuse box, headlights, etc un-plug and plug back in. This lets you see how the natural corrosion may be doing. I give them a shot of Tri-Flow.

The interior I give a good cleaning too also, I use a Teflon spray for the dash and plastic panels. DO NOT GET ON DRIVERS FLOOR OR PEDALS!

Over the winter, because my car us off the floor, I turn the rear wheels to keep the diff oil up on the gears. It may or not help, but, I have not had my diff. apart in a lOOOONG time.

You should remove the battery and store inside on a piece of wood. better yet, I use a battery maintainer. It works the battery a bit and keeps it topped up at 14 volts all winter, stops the sulphating. They are available at most battery places. Around $35.00

IF....you do not fire the motor over the winter...make sure you pop the valve cover off in the spring and run a line of oil over the valve train and down the timing chain. This will keep things happy on start up.
In the spring I fire the motor to temperature (200F), set the valve lash, then drain oil and change filter. Ready to go again. I have my list already for winter projects...do you have yours...It's almost spring.

I recommend not storing your beautiful dime in direct sunlight during the winter. The change in temperature from cold to sunny-warm will make everything condensate. Not good. Keep it in a shady area where it won't get too much - if any - debris on it during it's stay. This will minimize the amount of condensation.

When my dad was still into preservation of his cars, before the dementia/alzheimers kicked in, he used to pressurewash everything under the car and give it a good undercoating, and repaired some of the rusty areas.

We also use Tri-Flow, when budget allows.
If you use polyurethane bushings on your car, you probobly already know that if you didn't grease or lubricate them before installation, they squeek like hell. Silicone lube works great for them.

Door hinges: Keep them lubricated, and again - I prefer Tri-Flow. I use it on my dime as we speak. Very good to keep your hinges lubricated. If not, you're risking wearing out the unit and you'll have to replace or rebuild them. Not worth the price they want for new hinges these days.

Locks: Some people have problems with frozen locks if you live in colder climates. I recommend using some graphite and put some in each lock journal, keeps everything lubed up and corrosion resistant.

STA-BIL in the fuel system! Never forget that all the fuel in your car is gonig to be sitting awhile. It can become dirty, gross, and it's just not good for a carburetor. Put a thing of Sta-Bil in it and never worry about your gas. An octane booster doesn't hurt, either.

Carb-Cleaner - it's always best to clean your carb, whether you're storing it or not. I clean mine about once a month, maybe twice. It all depends. Carbs can gum up pretty quick. Especially in very cold weather. I always mess with the needle valve screw to keep it un-seized. Cleaner in the carb, clean the out-side of the carb, and lubricate the linkage with GRAPHITE! Do not use a liquid lubricant, it'll only gum up. Then do what Keith stated above, put a preservative in the carb/cylinders.

At least crank the motor once a month, even if you don't start it. Starting is best, but not required. Just enough to flow some oil where it has settled, and to move things around.

Engine Oil additives: I have always been skeptical about additives. Do they work? In my experience, yes. They do work, to some extent. PROLONG in the oil system will micro-lube your motor, which will help on cold starts and helps prevent corrosion/rust. Add this to your new oil and it'll be nice and lubed up next Spring!

Moisture collection/prevention: If you really wanted to be trick with your dime, you could buy a couple small boxes of Arm and Hammer baking soda, put them in your car. That will help draw out some of the moisture within the car. Put one on the floorboard, maybe one under the back-seat? I dunno. Be creative! Moisture gets in the damndest places.

Exterior: If you have any chips in the paint that are exposing bare metal, for gods sakes at least prime them up with some spray-primer, or sand and repair. Leaving it alone will ONLY MAKE IT WORSE! Prevention and Preservation. Isn't that what all us dimers are about? (besides racing...)

--Maybe not all of the stuff I listed is required on a 510, but it should be practiced with most stored vehicles. We have a '69 GMC 3/4 ton in practically mint condition, and we take care of it pretty well. Or at least we did....

Spring is aound the corner and of course it is time to start working on the DIMES! One thing to check! I had a corrosion failure of one of my sway bar end links on my Toyota this winter. Instant body roll, not good when you are all set up in the fast sweeper and have commited to a line! Part of our spring check is that VISUAL look at all those parts under the car that may be original, or...under a lot of load during cornering. Really look closely at those end links, the water will sit in the bushing area and over time the pitting could cause failure. Duffy Lake Fun run puts the brakes and suspension to a real test, now is the time to make sure it will be safe>

Time to get things warmed up!
Pop the valve cover off, and pour a little oil over the camshaft and down the timing chain. I spin the motor over WITHOUT the plugs in to get oil pressure. Good time to re-torque the head. Bleed the brakes. This is best done with a complete purge of all the old fluid. Brake fluid absorbs moisture over the winter and it is nice to have the best brakes possible. I use Motul racing fluid in mine, as it has one of the highest DRY ratings. Make sure the battery is fully charged, that way the motor fires right away. I always put in a hot set of plugs to do the fire-up.
As I said above....DO THE VISUAL CHECK. Runs like the Duffy lake do put the suspension and brakes under lots of loads. If the car has sat all winter, put in some fresh gas as soon as possible. Do not drive hard on old gas. The octane goes off when it sits like that.
If you have grease fittings on the suspension, give it a little shot.
Good Luck and see you all soon!

The condensation problem comes any time a cold object is taken into a warmer environment. IE: you drive around all day in your 510 in the winter time and then park it in a warm garage. Condensation may form in the gas tank and on other bare, metallic surfaces. What this column was primarily talking about was the STORAGE of your 510 after the driving season. If you drive all winter, you will slowly suffer the rust problems that plagued ALL 510's. unless your in some hot climate. The real issue is whether you want you 510 to continue deteriorating, or is it nice enough to try to preserve.... right where it is now.

Just a few comments, as it is that time of year again that some of us put the cars into winter storage.
1) I have been using the SCHUMACHER FULLY AUTOMATIC CHARGER/MAINTAINER 1.5 AMPS for my batterys now for some years. They keep the battery at full voltage and let it draw down a little, thus keeping it in excellent shape over the winters. This unit has been proven to be fully reliable and I have had no battery problems for several years now. This is with the battery sitting for 7 months over the winter.
2) I noticed that the Yokohama 032's definatley had a flat spot after sitting for awhile. It would go away after driving for a bit. I would highly recommend putting your car on jackstands for the winter if you have these tires on. I do not know for sure, if sitting for 5-7 months would good, but I am not going to take the chance. I keep my car on jack stands anyhow so the springs are more relaxed.
3) That ENGINE STOR product seemed to work really well. I have even sprayed parts that I have put into storage with it, then wrap them with newspaper.

This maybe a no brainer, but, as I was zipping around on my creeper the other day, under the car, I noticed some oil at the back edge of the oil pan. I checked all the pan bolts and they were all a bit loose. Good idea to check those bolts, as the different types of pan gasket/windage tray/oil pan combos, go through a lot of expansion and contraction cycles. Now is the time of year to get all this done before the driving season is upon us. Keeps everything nice and clean under the car.

I thought I would throw this up again, just as a reminder for those of us that take our cars off the road now.
Keeping that engine in good shape, as it sits all winter, is easy to do, with some of that ENGINE STOR. As we have seen, even engines stored in so called warm garages, etc, WILL get light rusting of valves, cylinder walls, anything really, that is exposed to air.